The present invention relates to a hypocycloid gear assembly used in internal combustion engines. The gear assembly is able to transfer power from a purely linear reciprocating piston to a purely rotational output shaft, increasing the efficiency and stability of the gear assembly and engine.
Conventional reciprocating piston engines and gear mechanisms are well known in the prior art. In the conventional engine, the connecting rod joins the piston to the gear assembly and assumes a slightly canted position during the piston cycle. This is caused by the linear motion of the piston on one end of the connecting rod and the circular motion of the gear assembly on the other end of the connecting rod. The canting or offset of the connecting rod reduces the driving force transferred from the piston to the gear assembly, because part of the force in the piston is dissipated in a lateral direction of the connecting rod. The canting also produces piston side loading which increases the amount of friction between the piston and the walls of a cylinder holding the piston. Furthermore, the rotation of the connecting rod at the gear assembly makes it more difficult to eliminate vibrational effects and balance the engine.
Hypocycloid gearing mechanisms in internal combustion engines have been developed to eliminate the canting in the connecting rod of conventional engines. However, hypocycloid gearing mechanisms in the prior art are extremely complicated, having multiple gears and counterweights.
An example is U.S. Pat. No. 4,026,252 to Wrin which discloses a hypocycloid engine containing eight gears and eight counterweights. The Wrin patent discloses external ring gears 74, 76, internal ring gears 78, 84, planet gears 88, 90, and output gears 104, 106 and counterweights 62, 64, 66, 67, 92, 94, 96 and 100. Furthermore, connecting rods 26, crankshaft 44, planetary crank carriers 52 and 56, and output shaft 102 travel in a circular motion or rotate which adds to the number of moving parts and further complicates the assembly and operation of the device.
In view of the foregoing, it should be apparent that there exists a need to have a simple hypocycloid gear arrangement for converting linear motion to rotary motion in an efficient manner.
The gear assembly of the present invention converts a purely linear motion in the connecting rod to a purely rotation motion in an output shaft. The gear assembly comprises a pinion shaft connected to the connecting rod by a pinion journal. A pinion carrier is placed over the pinion shaft so that both the pinion shaft and carrier move in unison. The pinion carrier travels in a circle around a center of axis which coincides with the center of axis of the output shaft. The output shaft thereby rotates on its own axis with no other consequential motion.
The hypocycloid gear assembly of the present invention improves on the prior art by providing a simple and efficient means of converting linear motion to rotational motion The gear mechanism performs this conversion using only two moving parts, the pinion shaft and the pinion carrier. The reduction of the gear assembly to two moving parts makes it easier to assembly and reduces the amount of friction generated between the moving parts.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a hypocycloid gearing mechanism which allows the piston and connecting rod to have a purely linear motion which is converted by the gearing mechanisms to a purely rotational motion in an output shaft.
It is a further object of the invention to eliminate the canting in the connecting rod so as to eliminate piston side loading and increase the efficiency of the engine.
It is a further object of the invention to direct all the energy of the piston into the connecting rod and eliminate any energy loss in a lateral direction to the connecting rod.
With these and other objects, advantages and features of the invention that may become hereinafter apparent, the nature of the invention may be more clearly understood by reference to the following detailed description of the invention, the appended claims and to the several drawings attached herein.